Bread ¦ Pasta ¦ Fish ¦ Potatoes

Pasta must be the sports food of the 90s. Its slow release of energy makes; it ideal for the longdistance performer: marathon runners, Tour, de France cyclists and Wagnerian tenors all swear by it. Powell's delightful exploration of the spaghetti jungle shows us European and Asian pastas, their variety, manufacture and presentation, and how to make and cook pasta for yourself. The pictorial A-Z of shapes (Z for Ziti - long macaroni) is excellent. Why so little wholemeal pasta, is made is not explained, even though it'sitwjce as good for you', but nonetheless this is a nourishing read.

Variety and cultural differences are even more strongly stressed in Bread which looks at types and uses of the stuff of life worldwide and through history - from matzo (unleavened bread) to summer pudding (which includes bread) and maslin (grain which is a mix of wheat and rye) to schwarzbrot (black bread). Again wholemeal flour emerges as 'healthier' and, this time, does feature in the recipes.

The Incas had over 1000 different names for what we just call spuds and even used a potato clock to measure time. The potent social and historical roles of the humble tuber, are compellingly documented in Potatoes.

Our fish diet is changing rapidly as wild fish stocks decline, a decline, which Powell mentions only fleetingly in Fish when introducing the current growth in fish-farming, concentrating rather on nutritional advantage, variety, processing and cooking, with a specially interesting spread on curing methods worldwide.

Fish and Potatoes lack the celebratory nature of Bread and Pasta but the four are worthy additions to a library's food section. Wipe-clean covers, too.